129-inch 30 cwt Prototype Truck ‘Lofty’
'Lofty', chassis 129/5, FYF 928C: the fifth of the six 129-inch 30 cwt prototype trucks Rover built between 1959 and 1963 to take on the Dodge Power Wagon in the Middle East oilfields — a Series III-style truck cab with the lamps in its wings, a wide raised bonnet and a big mesh grille, set high on a long chassis with big tyres, square-cut wings and a dropside body, with a 2.5-litre diesel turbocharged and intercooled by CAV — now in the Dunsfold Collection.
History
At the end of the 1950s Rover wanted a heavier Land Rover: a 30 cwt truck for civil and military users, and specifically one that could challenge the Dodge Power Wagon as the standard transport of the Middle East oilfields. Between 1959 and 1963 it built six prototypes on a 129-inch wheelbase, tall on big tyres, with the familiar Series cab and a separate load body. The project did not reach production — the Forward Control took the heavy-duty role instead — but the sixth-built vehicles were used for trials and as demonstrators for years.
Chassis 129/5, 'Lofty', was the military demonstrator: a 2.5-litre diesel with a CAV turbocharger and intercooler driving through a four-speed gearbox, and a dropside rear body with a canvas tilt. It went through military trials at FVRDE Chobham, returned to Solihull, and was then passed to CAV at Acton, west London, as a works vehicle, gaining its registration FYF 928C in June 1965. Brian Bashall bought it from CAV in 1968, one of the first vehicles in what became the Dunsfold Collection, which keeps it in the grey with a white cab roof the photograph shows — the tilt now off, the aluminium dropside bed bare.
Imagery
Registry record
- Manufacturer
- The Rover Company, Solihull (prototype)
- Manufactured
- Chassis 129/5, 1963; registered June 1965
- Engine type
- 2.5 L diesel with CAV turbocharger and intercooler; four-speed gearbox
- Production run
- 6 prototypes (1959–63)
- Country of origin
- United Kingdom
- Operated in
- United Kingdom
- Status
- preserved — Dunsfold Collection
Catalogue data
- Record kind
- Named model
- Wheels
- 4
- Nominal wheelbase
- 129″
Catalogue fields describe the vehicle's structure and body as this registry records it. They are not certified factory measurements, and no performance figures are published here.
Sources & citations
Researched sources
- 1963 Prototype 30cwt 129-inch Turbo Diesel Truck 'Lofty' — six built 1959–63 to challenge the Dodge Power Wagon; chassis 129/5, FYF 928C; 2.5 diesel with CAV turbo and intercooler; FVRDE trials, CAV Acton; bought by Brian Bashall 1968 ↗ — The Dunsfold Collection (accessed 2026-09-11)
Catalogue references
- https://dunsfoldcollection.co.uk/collection/129-lofty/ https://dunsfoldcollection.co.uk/collection/129-lofty/ ↗
Registry record updated 2026-09-11T08:13:12.281Z · status: researched